Several days of coast-to-coast mockery led Secretary of State Ken Bennett today to apologize for embarrassing Arizona with inquiries about Barack Obama’s birth certificate and reverse course on earlier comments that he may keep the president off the ballot unless Hawaii officials certify that he was born there.

Rep. Carl Seel is getting the backing of Arizona’s most high-profile sheriff in pushing for a state law that would allow voters to file suit against any political candidate they believe is legally ineligible to run for office, in what appears to be another challenge to the citizenship of President Barack Obama.